Jake (Hotline Miami)
Jake, also known as The Cobra, is a character in the indie top-down shooter videogame series, Hotline Miami. Initially appearing as a corpse in the first game, Jake returns as one of the playable protagonists in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Jake is a member of an ultranationalist terrorist organization known as 50 Blessings, which seeks to abolish the Russo-American Coalition by instructing several of their members to attack several operations owned by the Russian Mafia. As such, Jake is one of many citizens in Miami to go on violent rampages against the Russian Mafia. In Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, he serves as one of the two protagonists of the 1989 setting (alongside Richter Berg). Personality In each of his appearances, Jake is shown to be a hotheaded, impulsive and boastful xenophobe. He harbors an immense hatred towards Russians and is very quick to voice his contempt for them. His prejudiced nature towards Russians is also highly emphasized in the digital comic, where he is shown to sadistically get enjoyment out of violently assaulting Russian citizens during a riot. Due to owning a Confederate flag in his apartment and hoping to get a tattoo of "Old Dixie" on his shoulder, it is implied that Jake may be a neo-Confederate. In stark contrast to other 50 Blessings operatives such as Jacket, Biker and Richter, Jake is extremely loyal and passionately vocal towards 50 Blessings' cause, voicing his dedication to help the organization in their goals, much to their dismay. However, Jake's loyalty towards the organization can prove to be his downfall, as 50 Blessings will, depending on the player's choice, go out of their way to silence him for knowing too much about their operation. Appearance Jake is an obese man presumed to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Although he has shaved his head at the beginning of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, Jake originally had a blonde mullet prior to the game's events. He also has what appears to be a mono-brow and green eyes with snake-like vertical pupils. Jake wears a black t-shirt, a pair of torn jeans and has a green checkered shirt tied around his waist. As with the rest of 50 Blessings' spree killers possessing animal masks, Jake is able to wear three different snake masks: a cobra mask, a rattlesnake mask and a black mamba mask, which are all nicknamed "Jake", "Irvin" and "Dallas" respectively. Biography Background Little is known about Jake's personal background. However, the digital comic shows that Jake was a former junkyard worker who decided to quit his job in order to protest against the growing Russian prominence in the United States. He also signs up for 50 Blessings, a patriotic organization retaliating against the Russians. Eventually, a package containing a cobra mask is sent to his apartment and eventually starts receiving cryptic messages on his answering machine instructing him to assault various Mafia-occupied buildings. However, he remains unaware of who is sending the phone calls. 1989 April On April 25, Jake shaves his head at his bathroom sink inside his filthy apartment. Once finishing, he reads one of 50 Blessings' newsletters next to a mask box before receiving a phone call from "Eric" from Miami Auto Repairs. In the middle of the phone call, Jake tries to interrupt the caller by demanding if he could talk to the callers' boss, indicating that this is not the first phone call he has received. However, the caller ignores him and gives him the address to Northwest 12th Avenue place before hanging up. Aggravated, Jake angrily yells at his phone, telling the caller to show him "some Goddamn respect" before heading out of his apartment. He gets into his green sedan and heads over to the address given to him. Jake arrives at a new station owned by the Russian Mafia and puts on his cobra mask before heading inside. Once inside, he brutally kills all of the mobsters there and heads up to the news editor's office, where the news editor is conversing with a mobster beside him. Jake bursts into the office and guns down the armed mobsters. Depending on the player's choice, Jake can choose to shoot the editor or spare him. Jake also finds a suitcase full of money on the editor's desk and the player can choose to take it with him upon finishing the level. After completing his mission, Jake decides to celebrate his successful attack by heading to a tattoo shop. He asks the tattoo artist if he could get the Dixie flag on his shoulder. The tattoo artist books him for an appointment next Friday, but Jake demands that he wants to get the tattoo today as a special occasion. The tattoo artist denies his request due to the shop being fully booked for days. In response, Jake furiously chastises the tattoo artist for the business they are running their, calling the man a "Russian asshole" before storming out. June Two months later on June 3, receives another phone call: "Mary" from the Daycare Center has organized a parent-teacher meeting at Northwest 159th Street for Jake to come to. Jake tells the caller that he accepts his mission, only for the caller to ignore him once again and hang up on him, much to his annoyance. If the player had taken the money from the news station, Jake uses it to replace his green sedan with a black truck. Instead of heading over to his next job, he drives to 50 Blessings' headquarters. The Manager there greets Jake and is happy to hear that he supports their cause, but tells him that they are closing up soon. Jake tells the manager that he has a crazy plan that he would like to pitch to the organization, to which the manager agrees to hear it. Unaware that 50 Blessings are the ones screening the calls, Jake informs the manager of the strange phone calls. He says that with their resources and many of 50 Blessings' members having military experience, they could set up their own similar phone call operation and specifically target Russians to free America of oppression. Seemingly confused, the manager assures Jake that 50 Blessings is a peaceful organization and tells him he isn't sure what Jake is accusing the organization of. As Jake is about to tell the manager he isn't accusing him of anything, he notices the manager's tense silence. Realizing the truth, Jake is astonished that 50 Blessings is already carrying out the plans that he is pitching them. The manager demands Jake to leave, with the latter gleefully remarking that he shouldn't worry as he is a patriot who has "something important to do" before leaving. Afterwards, Jake arrives at the address given to him and the level known as "Withdrawal" begins. Jake finds a large meth operation held by Russian mobsters. As per usual, Jake begins slaughtering the mobsters and potentially blows up the meth labs inside along the way. Death Depending on how well the player does on the third and final floor of "Withdrawal", there are two different outcomes for Jake's fate: *'Failing': If the player fails to complete the third floor, Jake will be severely wounded by a mobster by either getting shot in the abdomen or getting bludgeoned across the head. A mobster will then drag Jake away and take him to a bath house on East 7th Street, where he is interrogated by Petrov and his personal guard. Despite knowing the truth behind the organization, Jake refuses to give away any information to the Russian Mafia. Knowing that Jake won't talk, Petrov gives him one last opportunity to say his last words, only for Jake to defiantly spit at him. In response, Petrov shoots Jake in the head. The same bath house is then assaulted by Jacket later that day. *'Succeeding': If the player manages to complete the third floor without dying, the manager will meet Jake outside in a PhoneHom van. The manager offers to take Jake to a nearby safe house to talk. Jake willingly complies, telling the manager that he feels honored to work with 50 Blessings and wishes to help them any way he can. Once at the safe house, the manager tells Jake to stay where he is before they begin their discussion, heading off to make some coffee for the both of them. While sitting at the desk, Jake can steal one of the many floppy disks on the desk depending on the player's choice. Instead of bringing coffee, the manager returns with a gun, to which Jake asks if the police are onto them. The manager then shoots Jake in the head, eliminating the threat he poses towards the organization. 1991 November 11th Despite being dead ever since 1989, Jake makes a small cameo appearance in Hank's bar, where he is seen sitting at one of the tables occasionally blowing on a small American flag. November 27th While investigating the 1989 massacres, freelance writer Evan Wright is given access to the police evidence locker by his friend Manny Pardo to look at Jake's belongings. If the player had stolen the floppy disk in the 50 Blessings safe house, the floppy disk can be found among Jake's belongings. Evan picks up the floppy disk and asks Pardo if there is anything on it, to which Pardo tells him that there are a list of addresses on it linked to the masked killers. As part of a favor owed to Evan, Pardo reluctantly allows Evan to borrow it. Later, Evan has the addresses extracted from the floppy disk at Copy Flash. One of the addresses on the disk leads Evan to the 50 Blessings HQ itself, which has since been abandoned by the organization. The Table Sequence The Table Sequence plays out each time the player starts a new game after already completing Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Jake is seen among the rest of the playable protagonists in the game, meeting with Richard in a dark room, who knows of each character's fates. Richard greets all of them by asking them if they know how this ends for each of them. Bewildered, Jake rudely questions what Richard is talking about and demands to know who the rest of the protagonists are and why he is here. Richard replies: "You're not really here, are you?" A flash of light then shows Jake dead with a gunshot to the head. Trivia *Although he is killed by a gunshot to the head, his corpse in the first game shows no signs of any head injury at all. **In addition, Jake's body in the first game is shown to be wearing his signature cobra mask despite not wearing it after being shot in the head in the sequel. *According to Dennis Wedin, Jake's name is a reference to his favorite wrestler Jake "The Snake" Roberts. *Since the Dallas mask is unlocked after beating Jake's final level, it is only usable during replays. **As Jake is able to use a nunchaku while wearing the Dallas mask, as well as the fact that the ability given to the mask is called "Inner Warrior", the mask is likely a reference to Bruce Lee, as he frequently uses a nunchaku in many of his films and due to the fact that a collection of his teachings are called "The Warrior Within". *In the Level Editor, Jake has two unused sprites. One of his sprites is of his face bleeding and the other is of Jake wielding an MP5 in-game, which is a weapon which he never uses. *Alongside Martin Brown, he is one of the few playable characters in the series to never interact with any of the rest of the other playable characters. *Jake is often mistaken for another character in the series known as Daniels, despite the two characters not being the same person, as confirmed by the developers. *Unlike many of the other playable characters, Jake only ever uses his right arm for melee attacks. This trait is also shared with Biker. *His proficiency with a nail gun may imply a history with hardware. 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